Privilege as a card game
(see also Privilege#Big 2 Analogy) In the card game Big 2, 4 players are dealt 13 cards each and compete to win 'sets' of single cards, pairs, triples or 'poker hands' (flushes, straight flushes, straights, full houses, etc). Cards are ranked in a hierarchy of suit and value from 3 of diamonds up to 10, J, Q, K and with the 2 of clubs, hearts and finally the 2 of spades as the top 3 cards. When a player holds the 2 of spades (or the 2 of hearts, if the 2 of spades is gone), they know that the can win any round of singles, which gives them the opportunity to start the next set on their own terms. This power can be used as an analogy for societal privilege and the card game as a whole as a conceptual simulation of Intersectionality. When a player starts a round with all 4 twos, they are nearly unstoppable. Whoever holds the 3 of diamonds (the lowest card) gets to play first, so sometimes if they are able to avoid singles, doubles or triples, they might be capable of getting rid of 10 cards in two hands, and then using their final three cards before the privileged player is able to utilise their '2-privilege', but the odds of this are slim. This is just like in life, where underprivileged people are capable of going very far, but the odds are stacked strongly against you. One might equate having the 2 of spades with having Class privilege - the ultimate ability to shut anyone else down beneath you. The 2 of hearts might then be abled-privilege - having a body and mind that the world was designed with respect to. The 2 of clubs might then be racial privilege - being of a race that the world deems superior and free from any structural barriers on the basis of your ancestry. Then the 2 of diamonds might be gendered privilege - existing as a gender that is both recognised and valued in your society. People who hold all 4 of these privileges might not feel like they have any significant advantage, because they are aware of all the situations in life where their privileges fail them, where these Trump cards don't hold up against either an equally good hand (not possible in a 52 card deck, but for argument's sake) or a lesser hand that wins by chance. From the other perspective, starting life with none of these privileges means learning to play the cards you're dealt in every situation, knowing that you're at a disadvantage, but knowing that if you aren't able to try 10 times harder then you're not going to survive. In this sense, the player's with the least privilege end up being the ones who become most practiced at the game. Which is a large part of why the player's with the most privilege often end up '''feeling '''like they are actually 'oppressed' (see THPoP), because all the privilege they are given ends up making them comfortable complacent and ultimately vulnerable for those rare moments when their privilege isn't enough. Category:Privilege Category:Ideas Category:Imaginary Privileges Category:Theories 2017 Category:Oppression Category:Game Theory Category:Life is a game